Clyde L. King

Thomson, Mehran K. The Springs of Human Action. Pp. xiv, 501. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1927

very interesting and serviceable biographical section on the leaders of contemporary China. The part devoted to the American continent is taken up mainly with our relations with Latin America, the League of Nations, the Mexican difficulties, boundary disputes, and finally the liquor conventions. The volume concludes with a twenty-page appendix giving the text of the Locarno Pact. Unlike the Annual Register, the Survey confines itself strictly to international affairs. The method is historical-&dquo;confined to facts,&dquo; says Mr. Gathorne Hardy in his introduction to the Survey for 19~o-~3. It is, moreover, based on a conspicuous mastery of facts and forces and is, in the main, objective. Nevertheless, the viewpoint of the authors appears frequently. In Professor Toynbee’s account of the Islamic World, for example, there is a &dquo;Note on Oil&dquo; (pp. 5~9-33) in which the criticism that oil played an unwarranted large role in the negotiations is vigorously refuted. According to him, whenever the critics are at a loss to find a satisfactory explanation of things, they always &dquo;smell oil,&dquo; and raise &dquo;the cry of capitalistic exploitation.&dquo; In the dispute over Mosul, neither Turkey or the Iraq (represented by Great Britain as the mandate power), made oil the basis of its policy. The author vigorously decries the mistaken statement that the legal and historical claims which cover the pages of diplomacy are only red herrings drawn

MAZUE, PAUL M. American Prosperity. Pp. xv, 268. Price,

can Marriage and Family Relations (American Social Science Series). Pp. xiii, 497. Price,

2.50. New York: The Viking Press, 1928

4.50. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1928. The most important section of this book is Part II (A Statistical Study of American Marriage), written by Professor Ogburn. It is by far the most ambitious and significant analysis of American marriage which has ever been undertaken. (Chapter IX was previously published in Social Forces, September, 1927, under the title &dquo;Eleven Questions Concerning Ameri-

What a Federal Farm Board Can Do

For many a decade our farmers felt the heavy hand of a high interest rate on a remorseless mortgage. These mortgages were usually of the term variety, the full amount due at a given date. Such terms were not suited to the slow annual returns of the farm. No big fees nor exceptional sales came along as windfalls and growing families sopped up the annual increments. Interest rates in pre-war years on farm mortgages were high for three quite sufficient reasons. In the first place, we were a debtor country, and

BECKER, CARL. Our Great Experiment in Democracy. Price,

torical setting; analyzes its general economic aspects; appraises carefully the results of combinations in a number of important industries; and then at the end there is a judicious balancing of the various considerations that help to determine what public policy should be. There are different types of industries, however, and no single system of control will work well throughout the whole field. The criteria which set apart the different types of industry are examined, and reasoned conclusions are reached with respect to the method of control which appears to be best adapted to each type. W. C. PLUMMER.

3.00. Pp. ix, 332. New York and London: Harper and Brothers:

States. It is necessary that she borrow some of America’s optimism, that she group her forces rather than her weaknesses, that she put herself on a footing of equality with the United States. America. on the other hand, must become more human, must cultivate greater commercial tact, must commit fewer errors of judgment and action. Each country must learn to know the other better. The book is conceived along optimistic lines. Tardieu is convinced by reason and by experience of the coming enlightenment for which he pleads. DOUGLAS L. HUNT.

ENGELMANN, GEZA, PH.D. Political Philosophy. Pp. xxiv, 398. Price,

States. It is necessary that she borrow some of America’s optimism, that she group her forces rather than her weaknesses, that she put herself on a footing of equality with the United States. America. on the other hand, must become more human, must cultivate greater commercial tact, must commit fewer errors of judgment and action. Each country must learn to know the other better. The book is conceived along optimistic lines. Tardieu is convinced by reason and by experience of the coming enlightenment for which he pleads. DOUGLAS L. HUNT.

3.00. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1927

This is a timely, practical and helpful book. Everyone of its nearly five-hundred pages is chockfull of facts pertinent to the highway systems of the United States. The earlier chapters are devoted to a historical development of the early trails, roads, waterways, canals, railroads, and modern wagon roads. The relations between highway and other kinds of transportation are discussed as is the probable development of automotive transportation. The book then turns to the discussion of planning of highway systems, the selection of road types, the effect of ease and cost of transportation on production and marketing of goods. One chapter is devoted to the financing of highways and one to highway accidents and their mitigation. The author does not overlook the value of and need for highway esthetics and he also dis-

SAIT, EDWARD M. American Parties and Elections. Pp. vii, 608. New York and London: The Century Company, 1927

This is a timely, practical and helpful book. Everyone of its nearly five-hundred pages is chockfull of facts pertinent to the highway systems of the United States. The earlier chapters are devoted to a historical development of the early trails, roads, waterways, canals, railroads, and modern wagon roads. The relations between highway and other kinds of transportation are discussed as is the probable development of automotive transportation. The book then turns to the discussion of planning of highway systems, the selection of road types, the effect of ease and cost of transportation on production and marketing of goods. One chapter is devoted to the financing of highways and one to highway accidents and their mitigation. The author does not overlook the value of and need for highway esthetics and he also dis-

Chatburn, George R., A.M., C.E. Highways and Highway Transportation. Pp. xx, 472. Price,

HAVE you ever thought of the of the people of this country on the JLJL romance about this great counother. try of ours? We have a wealth and an We have been creating wealth from income per capita now far and beyond our great stretches of forests; from the that of any other country and people bounty of our mines-coal and iron anywhere. We are not only the and copper and gold and silver mines; world’s greatest producer-we are also and from the native fertility of our the world’s greatest creditor. Wherbroad acres of virgin soils.